17 January 2017

IRIN is pleased to welcome two new members to its team: Sarah Noble, Director of External Relations (follow her on Twitter), and Victoria Bytsko, Admin and Finance Manager. These two newly created roles will be based at IRIN’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

Sarah Noble brings with her more than one decade of experience in strategic communication in the field of international peace and security. For the past 11 years, she has worked in a variety of positions, most recently as Director of Global Engagement, at the global peacebuilding organisation Interpeace, which, like IRIN, spun-off from the United Nations. She also serves as Head of the Peace Talks, an initiative that highlights inspirational stories of people who are making positive contributions to peace.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better candidate for this crucial position,” IRIN Director Heba Aly said. “Sarah has direct experience in the kind of fundraising, outreach and engagement IRIN needs, but equally importantly, she shares our passion for improving the lives of the world’s most vulnerable people.”

A member of the management team, Noble is the first Director of External Relations in IRIN’s history. Her recruitment will help IRIN execute its new five-year strategy, which focuses on audience engagement as a core pillar. In the years to come, IRIN intends to be much more visible, distribute its content through more channels and platforms, and better understand and respond to audience needs.

Victoria Bytsko joins IRIN after 20 years in administration, HR and finance at the international medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières. She has a wealth of experience both in the field – from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola to Indonesia and Pakistan – and in MSF’s head office in Brussels.

After constituting a Swiss association in January 2016, IRIN began running its own independent operations in June. Bytsko is responsible for handling IRIN’s day-to-day finances, donor reporting, annual accounts, HR and general administration.

"Victoria will play a key role in ensuring our new administrative and financial systems are robust, compliant, and support our growing ambitions,” Aly said.  "We are so pleased to have her on board as we enter a new phase of operational maturity as an organisation."

More about our team here and updates from IRIN here.

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